Dimitar Vlahov
Director, Knowledge & Insights
Sustainable Brands
Why Aren’t Companies Making Faster Progress on Sustainability?
Walking the Talk / Whether you're unsure how to find the right path, think you've done enough, or are just need help to go further — it’s become clear to us that sustainability executives and their C-Suite colleagues need more assistance with understanding and connecting all the dots. - 3 weeks ago
3 Big Questions Shaping the Future of Sustainable Business in 2019
Walking the Talk / This year, we are dissecting big, open questions that could either speed up or slow down our quest toward Delivering the Good Life. - 3 months ago
#NewMetrics18: The ROI of Sustainability Strategy — and 6 Ways to Get There
New Metrics / Last week at Sustainable Brands’ New Metrics ’18 conference in Philadelphia, PA, over 300 delegates from brands, NGOs, strategists and practitioners across sectors gathered to share their latest tools and findings regarding measuring the risks and impacts of previously unmeasured forms of value, the newest credible tools and solutions for assessing the ROI of Sustainable Business. - 6 months ago
Experts Gather to Discuss ROI of Sustainable Business at New Metrics '18
Press Release / SAN FRANCISCO, October 29, 2018 — The Sustainable Brands® community gathers today in Philadelphia, PA to kick off the 8th annual New Metrics conference. - 6 months ago
8 Timely Topics Shaping the 8th Year of #NewMetrics
New Metrics / At its core, the #NewMetrics series of events has always been about quantifying previously ignored risks, costs and revenue potential associated with sustainability impacts. Over the years, we have explored important new metrics related to the whole range of vital capitals — natural, human, social, relationship, intellectual and financial — with the same end goal of helping businesses understand the full picture of their presence in the world, so they can then improve it in informed, holistic ways. - 7 months ago
Sustainable Brands Delivers Insight on How to Build Better Sustainability Metrics
Press Release / Danone, Global Reporting Initiative, SAP, PepsiCo speaking at New Metrics ‘18 about creating and measuring new forms of value SAN FRANCISCO, September 26, 2018 – Sustainable Brands® reveals program, networking and activity highlights for its upcoming conference: New Metrics 2018. Nearly 400 business executives will convene October 29-31 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel for a conversation on the ROI of Sustainable Business and smarter, more accurate, and more inclusive business metrics that generate value for all stakeholders. - 7 months ago
3 #NewMetrics Trends Every Business Should Follow
New Metrics / What we at Sustainable Brands call “New Metrics” allow businesses to quantify previously ignored risks, costs and revenue potential associated with sustainability impacts. Smart executives use #NewMetrics to understand the full picture of their companies’ interactions with the rest of the world, improve stakeholder relationships, and steer innovation toward the products and services of the future. The field has evolved steadily and produced many significant milestones over the past decade. Below are three big trends businesses need to be on top of if they want to gain early-mover advantages and maximize the respective upside that awaits. - 10 months ago
SB Brand Transformation Roadmap to Help Companies on Journey to True Sustainability
Collaboration / Yesterday at SB'18 Vancouver, Kevin Hagen — VP of Environment, Social and Governance Strategy at Iron Mountain — and Dimitar Vlahov, Director of Content Development at Sustainable Brands (SB), offered a sneak peek at the SB Brand Transformation Roadmap (SM). Built for an executive audience, the first-of-its-kind Roadmap is a framework any organization can use as a compass towards setting goals and measuring progress towards becoming a truly "sustainable brand." - 11 months ago
Sustainable Brands Gathers Global Brand Innovation Leaders at SB’18 Vancouver
Press Release / Sustainable Brands kicks off its largest community gathering today with Sustainable Brands '18 Vancouver at the Vancouver Convention Centre West in Vancouver, British Columbia. - 11 months ago
Sustainable Brands Announces Full Conference Program for SB’18 Vancouver
Press Release / Target, P&G, REI, Danone and Google among companies confirmed to showcase how brands are redesigning products and services for The Good Life SAN FRANCISCO, March 29, 2018 – Sustainable Brands® recently announced full program details for SB’18 Vancouver, running June 4-7 at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia. The conference will convene more than 3,000 senior executives, top brand strategists and leading sustainability practitioners to discover how brands can update their products and services to prepare for a changing economy. - 1 year ago
5 Commonly Missed Opportunities in Corporate Sustainability
New Metrics / Sustainability has finally gone mainstream (or, at least, the desire to be seen as doing important work around sustainability and benefit from sustainability credentials has gone mainstream). Well, OK, at the very, very least the desire to be seen as having great sustainability programs is mainstreaming among large multinationals and a growing wave of environmentally or socially minded startups. - 2 years ago
7 Trends at the Intersection of Sustainability and Purpose to Watch This Year
Product, Service & Design Innovation / There is widespread consensus in the global Sustainable Brands community that purpose is trending in the business world, especially among brands that are looking beyond the next quarter and trying to figure out how to thrive in the middle and long run. Such brands are not only wisely taking actions to future-proof themselves, but are also smartly leveraging a strong zeitgeist of purpose-driven behavior in society in general – that verifiable wave of health-conscious consumers, meaning- and balance-seeking employees, future-focused students and increasingly influential faith-based and spiritual communities. - 3 years ago
7 Components of Purpose-Led Brands
Leadership / We have entered the Age of Purpose — purpose as a collective value of growing cultural importance in many societies; as an emerging leading force in personal and career development; and as a driver of business decisions looking to create long-term value, build resilience and connect with increasingly conscious stakeholders. It may be early days for the Age of Purpose, but there are many signs it will only continue to gain momentum. - 3 years ago
First Round of Plenaries at #NewMetrics '15 Tackles ROI, Reporting, Multiple Capitals, Science-Based Goals
New Metrics / The main-stage program of New Metrics ’15 kicked off Wednesday with a simple, yet powerful reminder: This set of conversations is all about upside potential, smarter risk management and long-term resilience. Our focus this week — New Metrics — are metrics that allow business leaders to quantify previously ignored ESG impacts, or capture entirely new forms of business value based on new opportunities along those dimensions. - 3 years ago
From Backyard Hoodies to Bionic Yarn: How Innovative Business Partnerships Could Help Us Achieve the SDGs
Collaboration / This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post, "What's Working: Sustainable Development Goals," in conjunction with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The proposed set of goals was the subject of discussion at the UN General Assembly meeting on Sept. 25-27, 2015 in New York; they cover 17 key areas of development — including poverty, hunger, health, education, and gender equality, among many others. - 3 years ago
5 Evolving Reasons Every Business Should Care About #NewMetrics
New Metrics / If you are a regular or even semi-regular reader of Sustainable Brands, you are likely familiar with our New Metrics (#NewMetrics) events and publications. - 3 years ago
Plenaries Unveil Next-Gen Goal-Setting Frameworks, Groundbreaking Product Assessments on #NewMetrics '14 Day 2
New Metrics / It is no secret that markets are starting to demand a more complete picture of businesses' interactions with environmental and social realities of the world — a new, expanded set of success factors and risks to inform key stakeholders — or simply #NewMetrics. How New Metrics are conceived, brought to life, communicated effectively, and perfected over time, are the key questions metrics experts in the Sustainable Brands community are tackling this week at New Metrics '14, taking place in Cambridge, MA, in partnership with the Sustainability Initiative at the MIT Sloan School of Business. - 4 years ago
Integration Is Key – SAP’s Thomas Odenwald on Natural Capital Accounting (Part Two)
New Metrics / The prospects of Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) are capturing the attention of the sustainability community at large, and with good reason. In part one of our two-part interview with Thomas Odenwald, SAP's Senior Vice President of Sustainability, he explained the three angles from which the company is approaching NCA; here, he offers steps for implementation.Dimitar Vlahov: This all sounds both promising and practical to me. What would you recommend the Sustainable Brands community to focus on in terms of specific next steps? - 5 years ago
Let’s Make It More Relevant and Systemic: SAP’s Thomas Odenwald on Natural Capital Accounting (Part One)
New Metrics / The prospects of Natural Capital Accounting are capturing the attention of the sustainability community at large, and with good reason. Keen to drill down into the topic with key players in the SB community, we sat down with Thomas Odenwald, SAP's Senior Vice President of Sustainability, to get his perspective on the implications and applications of this crucial movement. Dimitar Vlahov: There is a lot of buzz these days in sustainability circles about Natural Capital Valuation and Accounting. To what extent are you following this conversation and what do you think about emerging case studies? - 5 years ago
'There's More Work to Do': A Conversation with Coke's Bea Perez
Marketing and Comms / Earlier this week, Coca-Cola released its 2012/2013 Sustainability Report, which outlined progress the global beverage giant has made in the areas of water conservation and restoration, supporting sustainable community initiatives and empowering female entrepreneurs around the world.We caught up with Coke’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Bea Perez, for more on the company’s progress to date and the work that’s left to be done. - 5 years ago